Circulative catering table

ABSTRACT

A circulative table especially suitable for use in self-service catering business. The circulative table includes a base frame structure having inner and outer side walls defining therebetween a circulative passage and having a fixed fringe table. An endless plate conveyor is mounted in the circulative passage of the base frame structure for circulating food or dishes for selection by customers who are standing or sitting on chairs in front of the fixed fringe table. The circulative catering table further includes a cover plate and a number of sterilizing lamps mounted overhead the endless plate conveyor for maintaining the served food and dished in sanitary conditions free from dusts, putrefaction and the like.

United States Patent Shiraishi 1 July 22, 1975 [54] ClRCULATlVE CATERINGTABLE 1,949,468 3/1934 Hacuett 186/1 R 2.037.815 4/1936 [76] Inventor:Yoshiaki Sh1raish1, No. 68, Chodo 2506448 5/1950 HigaShi-OSHM Osaka-m3.578148 5/1971 Pincuard 186/1 R x Japan [22] Filed; Jam 14, 1974Primary ExaminerFrank E. Werner 1 [57] ABSTRACT Appl. No.: 433,043

Foreign Application Priority Data O1 T GHN A circulative tableespecially suitable for use in selfservice catering business. Thecirculative table includes a base frame structure having inner and outerside walls defining therebetween a circulative passage and having afixed fringe table. An endless plate conveyor is mounted in thecirculative passage of the base frame structure for circulating food ordishes for selection by customers who are standing or sitting on chairsin front of the fixed fringe table. The circulative catering tablefurther includes a cover plate and a number of sterilizing lamps mountedoverhead the endless plate conveyor for maintaining the served food anddished in sanitary conditions free from dusts putrefaction and the like.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUL 2 2 ms SHEET FIG. '5

CIRCULATIVE CATERING TABLE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION Thisapplication is related to my copending applica tion, Ser. No. 433,056filed on Jan. 14, 1974.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionrelates to a catering equipment, and more particularly to a circulativetable particularly use ful in self-service catering.

Briefly, the present invention concerns a circulating catering tableapparatus which is provided with an endless conveyer for transferringdishes or meals thereon inside and along a circular fixed table to allowcustomers who are standing or sitting outside the fixed circular tableto select a desired dish or dishes among those which are circulated bythe conveyer.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one preferred formof the invention, the circula tive catering table comprises a basicframe structure having inner and outer side walls defining therebetweenan endless circulating path of travel; a fixed fringe table providedaround the circumference of said outer wall of said basic framestructure; an endless con veyer mounted in said endless circulating pathfor circulatively transferring meals therealong; a driving means mountedon said basic frame structure and associated with said endless conveyerfor imparting translational movement thereto; a cover plate mountedoverhead said circulating path of travel and supported on said innerside wall of said basic frame structure by means of a number of posts inparallel spaced relationship with a meal-transferring surface of saidendless conveyer.

The endless circulating path of travel may be formed in a generallyrectangular shape or circular shape whichever may be desired. It ispreferred to form the cover plate overhead the circulating path from atransparent material such as transparent glass sheet and re tain thesame in a frame using suitable structural material.

In another preferred form of the invention, the circulative cateringtable further comprises a cooking table located at a suitable positionwithin a space defined by the circulating path of travel and a number ofsterilizing lamps mounted on the underside of the cover plate formaintaining in a sanitary state the served meals which are circulated bythe endless conveyer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects, featuresand advan- I veyer;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing one crescent plate memberas detached from an endless conveyer chain for the convenience ofexplanation;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagramatic perspective views showing driving meansfor the endless conveyer.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the accompanyingdrawings and first to FIGS. 1 through 4, the circulative catering tableof the invention comprises a base frame structure or construction l of arectangular or circular shape in plan view. The base frame structure 1includes inner and outer side walls 3 and 4 which define therebetween acircular endless path of travel. In this circular endless path oftravel, there is mounted an endless conveyer 2 for transferring dishesor meals in one direction therealong. A relatively narrow circular fixedfringe table 5 is mounted substantially horizontally on the outer sidewall 4 close to the upper end thereof. The fixed fringe table 5 isprojected outwardly from the circumference of the outer side wall 4 tosurround the circulating path of travel in which the afore-melitioncdendless conveyer is running. A cooking table 6 is provided a suitableposition within the boundary defined by the inner side wall 3 of thebase frame structure 1. The inner and outer wall 3 and 4 of the baseframe structure 1 have a passage 7 ofa suitable size to provide anaccess to the inner side of the table.

As shown particularly in FIGS. 3 and 4, the endless conveyer 2 whichruns in and along the circulating passage on top of the frame 1 isconstituted by a series of crescent plates 8 each having a swivel arm 9extending downwardly from the underside thereof. These crescent plates 8are pivotally supported on a strand of an endless chain which is formedfrom a plurality of chain units 11 each connected with adjacent ones bymeans of pin links 12. The pin links 12 are each provided with avertical bore for receiving and supporting the swivel arm 9 of thecrescent plate 8. The crescent plates 8 which are aligned end to end asshown in FIG. 3 can swivel on the chain 10. The side wings of thecrescent plates 8 are slidingly supported on horizontal racks 13 whichare formed by folding the upper ends of the inner and outer side walls 3and 4 inwardly angularly, the crescent plates 8 being thus in horizontalalignment with each other to provide a substantially continuous planesurface on the circulating path of travel.

The aforementioned endless chain 10 is applied around and meshed withteeth of a horizontally disposed sprocket wheel 15 at each corner of thetable. The sprocket wheels 15 are each supported on a vertical shaft 14and one sprocket wheel 15 is connected to and rotatingly driven from adriving mechanism 16 which is mounted at a suitable position on the baseframe structure 1. The driving mechanism 16 is arranged, forf'e xample,such that rotation of adriving motor 'is i-transmitted through atransmission or a reducer 18 to a worm gear. 19, as shown in FIG, 5,which is in meshing engagement with a worm wheel 2 fixedly mounted onthe afore-mentioned vertical shaft 14 of the sprocket wheel 15.Alternatively, the vertical shaft 14 may be imparted with rotation bymeans of a geared motor 21 which is connected thereto by a transmissionchain 22.

Overhead the endless circulating conveyer 2, there is provided aroof-shaped cover plate 23 which is formed, preferably, from atransparent material such as a transparent glasssheet retained in aframework including angular corner frames 25. The transparent coverplate 23 is mounted on the inner side wall 3 of the base frame structure1 by means of a number of posts 24 of an inverted L-shape in parallelspaced relationship to the endless conveyer 2. The cover plate 23 whichis coextensive with the endless conveyer 2 has mounted on the undersidethereof a number of sterilizing lamps 26 end to end in the longitudinaldirection, for sterilizing the meals or dishes which are circulativelytransferred on the endless conveyer 2. Preferably, a glass refrigeratingbox 27 is placed on the cover plate 23 in a position in front of thecooking table 6 for storing and displaying food stuff or material to becooked or served.

. With the circulative catering table construction of the invention asdescribed hereinabove, a cook stations inside the circulating endlessconveyer 2 for cooking food on the cooking table 6 and placing cookeddishes or mealsone by one on the moving conveyer 2 so that customers canstand or sit on chairs in front of the fixed circular fringe table andtake or choose'a desired dish among those which are circulativelytransferred by the endless conveyer 2. The circulative catering table ofthe invention can thus contribute to laborsaving to a considerabledegree and makes it possible to serve a variety of dishes with a highefficiency. It will be understood that, coupled with the cover plate 23,the provision of the sterilizing lamps 26 overhead the dish transferringcircular endless conveyer 2 serves to maintain the dishes or meals insanitary conditions against dusts and putrefaction.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those be falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed is: l. A circulative catering table comprising: a baseframe structure having inner and outer side walls defining therebetweenan endless circulating path of travel; a fixed fringe table mountedsubstantially horizontally around the circumference of said outer sidewall of said base frame structure; an endless conveyer mounted in saidendless circulating path of travel for circulatively transferring mealson a surface thereof, said endless conveyer comprising a strand of chainmovable in and along said endless circulating path of travel and meshedwith and driven by a horizontally disposed sprocket wheel which issupported on a vertical shaft, and a series of crescent plates pivotallysupported on the respective chain units of said chain and having sidewing portions thereof slidingly rested on horizontal racks at the top ofsaid inner and outerside walls of said base frame structure inhorizontal alignment with each other to provide a planarmealtransferring surface on said endless circulating path of travel,each said crescent plate including a first concave edge and a'secondconvex edge in opposition to said concave edge with the convex edge ofone of said plates being nested in the concave edge of said nextadjacent plate; driving means mounted on said base frame structure andassociated with said endless conveyer for imparting translationalmovement thereto; a cover plate mounted overhead said circulating pathof travel and supported on said inner side wall of said base framestructure by means of a number of posts in a parallel spacedrelationship with said meal-transferring surface of said endlessconveyer. i

2. A circulative catering table as defined in claim 1, furthercomprising a number of sterilizing lamps mounted on the underside ofsaid cover plate for maintaining in a sanitary state the served mealswhich are under circulation on said endless-conveyer.

3. A circulative catering table as defined in claim 1, wherein saidcovering plate is formed from a glass sheet and is retained in aframework.

4. A circulative catering table as defined in claim 1, wherein saiddriving means further comprises a driving motor; a reducer having theinput shaft thereof connected to the output shaft of said driving motorand an output shaft connected to a worm gear which is held in meshingengagement with a worm wheel fixedly supported on said vertical shaft ofsaid chain driving sprocket wheel.

5. A circulative catering table as defined in claim 1, wherein saiddriving means further comprises a geared motor and a transmission chaininterconnecting said geared motor and said vertical shaft of said chaindriving sprocket wheel for transmitting translational movement.

1. A circulative catering table comprising: a base frame structurehaving inner and outer side walls defining therebetween an endlesscirculating path of travel; a fixed fringe table mounted substantiallyhorizontally around the circumference of said outer side wall of saidbase frame structure; an endless conveyer mounted in said endlesscirculating path of travel for circulatively transferring meals on asurface thereof, said endless conveyer comprising a strand of chainmovable in and along said endless circulating path of travel and meshedwith and driven by a horizontally disposed sprocket wheel which issupported on a vertical shaft, and a series of crescent plates pivotallysupported on the respective chain units of said chain and having sidewing portions thereof slidingly rested on horizontal racks at the top ofsaid inner and outer side walls of said base frame structure inhorizontal alignment with each other to provide a planarmeal-transferring surface on said endless circulating path of travel,each said crescent plate including a first concave edge and a secondconvex edge in opposition to said concave edge with the convex edge ofone of said plates being nested in the concave edge of said nextadjacent plate; driving means mounted on said base frame structure andassociated with said endless conveyer for imparting translationalmovement thereto; a cover plate mounted overhead said circulating pathof travel and supported on said inner side wall of said base framestructure by means of a number of posts in a parallEl spacedrelationship with said meal-transferring surface of said endlessconveyer.
 2. A circulative catering table as defined in claim 1, furthercomprising a number of sterilizing lamps mounted on the underside ofsaid cover plate for maintaining in a sanitary state the served mealswhich are under circulation on said endless conveyer.
 3. A circulativecatering table as defined in claim 1, wherein said covering plate isformed from a glass sheet and is retained in a framework.
 4. Acirculative catering table as defined in claim 1, wherein said drivingmeans further comprises a driving motor; a reducer having the inputshaft thereof connected to the output shaft of said driving motor and anoutput shaft connected to a worm gear which is held in meshingengagement with a worm wheel fixedly supported on said vertical shaft ofsaid chain driving sprocket wheel.
 5. A circulative catering table asdefined in claim 1, wherein said driving means further comprises ageared motor and a transmission chain interconnecting said geared motorand said vertical shaft of said chain driving sprocket wheel fortransmitting translational movement.